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Behind The Shortage Of Special Ed Teachers: Long Hours, Crushing Paperwork

posted Nov 11, 2015, 12:05 PM by Gary Jones

Special education teachers have the most extensive (never ending) training regimen, deal with the most difficult learning situations, and have the largest toolkit from which they must draw. And yet...

There is a letter that school districts really don't like sending home to parents of special education students. Each state has a different version, but they all begin with something like this:

"Dear Parent, as of the date of this letter your child's teacher is not considered 'highly qualified.' " And then: "This doesn't mean your child's teacher is not capable or effective. It means they haven't met the state standards for teaching in their subject."